The third jewel, the right Walk which the Jaina ethics contains, has its
kernel in the five great oaths which the Jaina ascetic takes on his
entrance into the order. He promises, just as the Brâhmaṇ penitent, and
almost in the same words, not to hurt, not to speak untruth, to
appropriate nothing to himself without permission, to preserve chastity,
and to practice self-sacrifice. The contents of these simple rules become
most extraordinarily extended on the part of the Jainas by the insertion
of five clauses, in each of which are three separate active instruments of
sin, in special relation to thoughts, words, and deeds. Thus, concerning
the oath not to hurt, on which the Jaina lays the greatest emphasis: it
includes not only the intentional killing or hurting of living beings,
plants, or the souls existing in dead matter, it requires also the utmost
carefulness in the whole manner of life, in all movements, a watchfulness
over all functions of the body by which anything living might be hurt.
[Footnote: The Digambara sect, at least in southern India, do not seem to
be all quite so punctiliously careful in this as the Śvetâmbara of
western India.—Ed.] It demands finally strict watch over the heart and
tongue, and the avoidance of all thoughts and words which might lead to
dispute and quarrel and thereby to harm. In like manner the rule of
sacrifice means not only that the ascetic has no house or possessions, it
teaches also that a complete unconcern toward agreeable and disagreeable
impressions is necessary, as also the sacrifice of every attachment to
anything living or dead. [Footnote: On the five great vows see the
_Âchârâṅga Sûtra_, II, 15: _S.B.E_. Vol. XXII, pp. 202-210.
The Sanskrit terms of the Jains are: 1. _ahiṁsâ_, 2.
_sûnrita_, 3. _asteya_, 4. _brahmâchârya_, 5.
_aparigraha_; those of the Brahmanical ascetics: 1. _ahiṁsa_,
2. _satya_, 3. _asteya_, 4. _brahmâchârya_,
5. _tyâga_.]
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